The Avalanche have been quietly rebuilding via the draft the past few
years and this past season saw a number of their young players take the
next step. They had to go outside the organization for help at
goaltender, however, and with there already some nice depth on defense
expect the Avalanche to focus on goaltending and plugging holes at left
wing. With the 17th pick, there’s a chance they’ll have their choice at
the top two goaltenders in the draft, an understandable pick considering
their dire need for netminding talent under Craig Anderson.

Has the tools to make a difference offensively, and
is rock solid in his own end as well. He’s a big, hard hitting
defenseman who is about as versatile as you could ask for, possessing
great speed on top of his size and big shot.

Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk has been the most difficult goalies to score against this season. Leave it to a high-level player like Leon Draisaitl to make it look this, well, “easy.”

Draisaitl scored his 13th goal of 2016-17 by capping this pretty give-and-go play with Benoit Pouliot. You can see the frustration from Dubnyk at the end of the tally, as if he was saying “How was I supposed to stop that?” (though probably with more colorful language).

Draisaitl came into Friday with five goals and three assists in his last five games, so he’s been almost unstoppable lately.